


That Time (A) Union Jack Thought Toro Was Destroyer's Boy Toy

by Eliyes



Category: Invaders (Marvel), Union Jack (comic)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-26
Updated: 2013-09-26
Packaged: 2017-12-27 17:47:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/981826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliyes/pseuds/Eliyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You don't need superpowers to jump to conclusions.</p><p>----</p><p><i>Well,</i> Joey thought, struck by horrible possibility, <i>he's not bad looking, I suppose.</i> He really didn't want his mind to follow that path, but it did, speculating that Aubrey probably wouldn't bring a one night stand to his home to play "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" out where all the neighbourhood could see and hear. In the event that this was some sort of serious relationship, and considering his own past affair with Jackie, Joey was absolutely not going to remark upon the age difference.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Time (A) Union Jack Thought Toro Was Destroyer's Boy Toy

**Author's Note:**

> Joey Chapman (Union Jack III), Thomas Raymond (Toro), Roger Aubrey (Destroyer II), and a misunderstanding... I couldn't resist.
> 
> This story was originally posted on Livejournal December 11, 2011.

 

Joey was pretty sure he hadn't got Aubrey's address wrong -- hell, the man hadn't moved since he'd known him, although he'd only been by a few times with Kenneth -- but the unfamiliar bloke sitting on the doorstep tuning a guitar suggested otherwise. He was a big man with pitch-black hair, head bent over his work and obscuring his face, but Joey didn't think he had the right look to be some kind of relation. (Joey didn't even know if Aubrey had siblings or cousins whose kids -- or grandkids, this bloke looked late twenties or so -- would drop by for a visit.) Could he have moved?

The stranger had settled into strumming the opening to an older Beatles song by the time Joey was close enough to spot the godawful purple garden gnome statuette lurking by the steps that identified the place as _definitely_ Aubrey's house. Jackie had its match in orange in her favourite garden, some joke between them. So Joey walked right up.

A hand on the strings to still them, the strange bloke looked up -- yeah, not an Aubrey-type face, that -- and stared at Joey with unblinking curiosity.

Joey jerked his head at the house. "He in?"

"Yeah, hang on." He stood up to crack open the front door and holler inside, "Rodge! Visitor!" His accent seemed American, which Joey was surprised to be unsurprised by.

The upstairs window swept up and Aubrey called down, "Come in. I'll be right down."

Holding the door open and the guitar out of the way, the perplexing American politely nodded Joey in. Joey thanked him as he slipped inside, wondering who the hell he was. A nurse wouldn't call Aubrey "Rodge", surely, and an American...?

 _Well,_ Joey thought, struck by horrible possibility, _he's not bad looking, I suppose._ He really didn't want his mind to follow that path, but it did, speculating that Aubrey probably wouldn't bring a one night stand to his home to play "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" out where all the neighbourhood could see and hear. In the event that this was some sort of serious relationship, and considering his own past affair with Jackie, Joey was absolutely not going to remark upon the age difference.

This intention was, naturally, completely scuttled by he way Aubrey took one look at his carefully neutral face and snorted. He gave Joey a very schoolmasterish _I know what you're thinking, you young fool_ Look, shook his head, and called towards the door, "Come in so I can introduce you!"

Most people would look sheepish at that summons, but this bloke just had that same curious-blank expression again. Joey was creepily reminded of Tara, just for a second before he shook it off.

And then Aubrey said, "Joseph Chapman, alias Union Jack, meet Thomas Raymond, alias Toro the Flaming Boy. Not that kind of flaming, and no longer a mere boy," and yet another living legend was rolling his eyes at the old man.

Joey was ninety percent positive he wasn't an android.

Raymond gave him a friendly smile and offered his hand to shake, which Joey accepted.

"Pleased to meet you. Jackie's told me a bit about you."

Joey's eyebrows raised, wondering what, exactly, Jackie had said to the original Torch's adopted kid.

"Oh, er, I guess I mean Lady Falsworth. Or, no, Crichton. Anyway, y'know, with the family history..."

"After two weddings and too many funerals, I think she'd beat you if you backslid now," Aubrey said, saving Raymond from his awkward conversational stumbling as he waved them into his kitchen. "Stick with 'Jackie'." He put on a kettle and then turned to send Joey a challenging look, though a mild one. "What can I do for you?"

"I'd like to pick your brain," Joey said, and shot a look at Raymond. "Yours too, if you would. It's not urgent, but I think I've got the end of a rope anchored back in the forties."

"Tea or coffee?" Aubrey asked, gesturing for Joey to sit at the table.

"Tea," Raymond said, then nipped away, presumably to stow his guitar.

"Tea, thanks." Joey looked curiously at the big metal bowl on the counter. It had cling wrap over the top and he reached out from his chair to lift it.

"Don't mess with that!" Raymond scolded, coming back. "That dough's only in its second rising."

"You bake?"

"If you're very lucky, I'll let you have some of the lemon cake he made," Aubrey said drily, rattling around his cupboard.

Joey shook off a spectre of Kenneth charming some sweet from his 'Uncle Roger' when they were younger, along with present surprise. He didn't know why it was still so surreal to think of superheroes as doing normal people things until he met them, but it was. He had an interesting talk ahead of him.


End file.
